Poland second-graders present play with both classroom, anti-bullying lessons
Second-graders in Poland teacher Heather Judd’s class put on a class play on June 18 called “A New Beginning,” based on the characters in “Little House on the Prairie.” The students are pictured here after their afternoon performance. Pictured from left to right, front row: Jared Young, Chloe Rider, Robert Vaughn, Nathan Burns, Emily Smith, Owen Yost and Zyanna Irving-Summers. Back row: Judd, Jakob Payne, Rayna Malta, Kendra Houghtaling, Caleb Forbes, Sierra Wright, Lily Martin, Derek Milianta, William Pomichter and Maddison Haver.
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POLAND – Students in Poland second-grade teacher Heather Judd’s class described their recent class play as “epic, spectacular, amazing, fun and legendary.”
They lived up to their own hype.
On Thursday, June 18, Judd’s class performed “A New
Beginning,” a play written by Judd based on the characters from “Little House
on the Prairie.” They first put on the play for other elementary students and
then again in the afternoon for their parents.
Judd, who presents an original play with her class each
year, said this class had only about a month, which is less time than usual, to
learn their lines and practice for the play, but the students enthusiastically
got the job done.
“They worked super hard,” she said. “They are just a great,
great, great group.”
Poland second-graders study the westward expansion of the
United States, and as part of that, Judd has her students watch some episodes
of “Little House on the Prairie.”
“This class – out of every class I’ve had – they loved
‘Little House on the Prairie,’” she said.
Because the students were so into the show, Judd chose it as
the basis for her play this year. The concept for the play is that the
characters moved west to Walnut Grove, Minn., and it is the first day of
school. She also tied in themes about bullying because the district has focused
on anti-bullying efforts, she said.
Second-grader Lily Martin, 7, played Laura Ingalls, a new
girl in school.
“It was kind of fun,” she said, after the performance for
other students. “I was nervous, but it was fun after.”
Derek Milianta, 8, played the character Mr. Edwards, who is
a “nice guy,” Derek said. During the westward expansion unit, Derek learned
about wagon trains, which are a bunch of wagons together, and he thinks the
play taught another important lesson.
“Don’t be a bully in school,” he said.
Rayna Malta, 7, played Miss Beadle, a teacher. Rayna, who
wants to be a teacher when she grows up, said it was “awesome” to play a
teacher because “you get to do paperwork and tell people what to do.”
It was hard to memorize her lines, and she was scared right
before the play started, but she was happy when everybody clapped for the
students at the end.
Rayna said the play teaches a lesson “not to bully in school
because that’s not nice,” and when it comes to new students in school, you
should “make sure they’re happy and having fun.”
She also enjoyed practicing for the play with the other
students, she said.
“We have a very nice class,” Rayna said.
Emily Smith, 8, played Nellie Olson. Emily said her
character is “mean, naughty, bad, bossy, spoiled rotten and thinks she knows
everything.” She said it was fun and easy to play the character “because you
could be mean to everyone.”
“I also like it because my hair gets to be curled and I get
to wear a dress and boots and all kinds of stuff,” she said.
This was Emily’s first time in a play, but she wasn’t
nervous, and her favorite part was acting like Nellie.
Zyanna Irving, 8, played Carrie Ingalls, and she said it was
“cool” and “fun” to play her. She said it was at times hard to memorize the
lines for the play, but also easy in a way. She felt “happy” when everyone
clapped for the performance.
Zyanna couldn’t pick just one favorite part of the play
experience, she said.
“Everything,” she said, “the whole play.”
After the performance for parents, the parents were invited
back to Judd’s classroom for a slideshow of highlights from the school year and
the presentation of awards to students such as “Lovely Listener,” “Joyful
Jokester,” “Handy Helper,” “Great Writer,” “Great Artist,” the “Friendship
Award,” “Most Improved” and more. The students were able to vote on the awards,
and Judd made the final decisions.
“They’re a pretty awesome class,” she said. “They’re
wonderful, wonderful kids.”